[vdr] Re: [Mplayer-dvb] DTS Sound

[Wolfgang Fiesel <fie@iis.fhg.de>]

Joachim Koenig wrote:

> > I believe it's nice to have it. But wrapping DTS into the IEC 61937 format
> > (most say PCM format) needs a very important detail:
> > We have to collect and wrap always a complete DTS frame.
> > Unfortunatly the DVD don't save DTS data in frame aligned format. It's
> > separated into several single data packets.
> > Our job is now to combine these single DTS packets into one logical frame
> > packet as we do it in case of AC-3.
> > But the main problem is the fact that there is absolut no detailed DTS
> > description available neither on the net nor anywhere. Digital Theatre
> System
> > treats their DTS coding scheme as a really top-secret subject. I think we
> have
> > no change to reengineer it at a legal and reasonable price.
> > Perhaps the only change is to know a friend whose friend knows a friend
> who is
> > working at DTS....
>
> The DVD player xine supports DTS, have a look at the sources of the dts
> plugin and you see how
> to play it via a sound card. Then it should not be too difficult to send it
> via the DVB card using the same
> method as for ac3.

You are right, that's a very good starting point.
But now a more fundamental question, is this DTS feature really such a great
topic ?
On most DVD collection there is no DTS sound available. The coding algorithm
says that DTS compress only by a factor of three (six channel on 1 hour CD). DTS
is a much simpler compression scheme as AC-3 or MP3. Therefore it need much more
bits for the same audio quality compared with AC-3 algorithm (only a question of
memory space).
On the other side various "audio experts" argue that DTS sounds much better than
AC-3 in case of music items (not movie sound).

Ok, nevertheless the VDR should always support every audio format, right?

I can't promise to investigate the DTS topic in the next weeks but on the other
side it stimulates my curiosity to find here a simple and clever solution.

Wolfi